M. Sony, J. Antony, S. Park and M. Mutingi, "Key Criticisms of Six Sigma: A Systematic Literature Review," in IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, vol. 67, no. 3, pp. 950-962, Aug. 2020, doi: 10.1109/TEM.2018.2889517.

  Six Sigma has been one of the most popular initiatives to improve management processes over the past few decades. Amidst the success stories on the Six Sigma, there exist some literature studies on the criticisms of Six Sigma. 

  This paper analyzes literature through various electronic databases such as Academic Source Premier (EBSCO), Google Scholar, Business Source Premier (EBSCO), Emerald Insight, IEEE Xplore Digital Library, JSTOR, ProQuest, Science Direct, Taylor & Francis, PubMed, Wiley, Inderscience, Scopus, and World Public Library. Sixty-one relevant articles are found and analyzed in depth. This paper finds 12 major themes of criticisms on Six Sigma.

1.The failure rate of Six Sigma like any other organizational change initiatives is very high.

2.The initial cost of implementing Six Sigma in an organization is very high.

3.Six Sigma, if not implemented properly, may have a negative impact on customer satisfaction.

4.Poor measurement system for Six Sigma may erode employee motivation. Also, Six Sigma creates a culture of command, and culture associated which may stifle the employee creativity and innovation.

5.The benefits due to Six Sigma improvement for companies are minimal with respect to the efforts .

6.The technical criticisms of Six Sigma like 1.5σ shift needs to be addressed to instil confidence in Organizations to implement Six Sigma.

7.Implementing a structured improvement method like Six Sigma may hinder Organization Innovation.

8.Variance reduction should not be the only goal of Six Sigma implementation.

9.Six Sigma bend towards Correction System.

10.What is new in Six Sigma? 

11.Non-Standardisation of Curriculum.